Queen Camilla flambés an enormous 22lb figgy pudding at festive Christmas lunch for the Royal Voluntary Service

Queen Camilla appeared full of Christmas cheer today as she joined a ‘Festive Spread’ lunch at The Amadeus in London.

During the event, the royal, 77, who donned a cream shirt and elegant green jacket from Anna Valentine, warned Christmas dinner guests to ‘hold onto their hair’ as she helped flambé a giant 22lb figgy pudding.

Her Majesty admitted she was a ‘bit nervous’ as she poured an entire jug of brandy over the 14-inch desert at a lunch for the Royal Voluntary Service, watching it go up in flames.

She told volunteers, who gathered for the launch of ‘Festive Spread’ – a community lunch aimed at making sure no one spends the Christmas season alone – that she was ‘eternally grateful for everything you do’; she added: ‘As I always say, this country would collapse without you.’

The RVS will host 70 of the events across the country. Today’s, at The Amadeus in West London, was attended by the charity’s ambassadors, Felicity Kendal and Elaine Paige, with the Queen spending half an hour meeting guests and volunteers.

Catherine Johnstone, the CEO, told assembled guests that the Queen would be joining them shortly before she arrived, saying that Her Majesty would rather they did not worry about curtsying or what to call her and concentrate on enjoying themselves.

Laughing, she described her role of lighting the Christmas pudding as a ‘career-limiting moment’.

Lunch was made with the help of students at West London College, who were the first people to meet the Queen as she arrived. 

Asking them how long they had been cooking and what they particularly liked to make, she told them it was ‘so nice’ and ‘so lovely’ of them to use their new skills to help others with the RVS.

Greeting Felicity Kendal and Elaine Paige, both of whom have worked with the RVS for years and have met Camilla, as Duchess of Cornwall, before, the Queen was asked how she was – after a bout of pneumonia – and joked: ‘I’m still standing.’

Joining the lunch, she sat down at a succession of round tables, shaking hands with the volunteers and guests who were wearing Christmas hats and hairbands, and waiting for their lunch.

The topic of the Christmas pudding came up multiple times, with the Queen saying: ‘I’m a bit nervous’.

Making the gesture of a fire roaring upwards, she said: ‘I can just see it! You’re making me nervous now.’

The Queen praised volunteers, repeating that it was ‘so important’, and asking about their Christmas plans.

‘I used to do that,’ the Queen was heard to say, during a conversation about Meals on Wheels. The 77-year-old occasionally leaned in to an elderly guest for a quieter conversation. 

The lunches have been created to help make sure the vulnerable, elderly or bereaved do not spend the entire festive season without seeing another person.

‘Everyone has something to say,’ the Queen said. She wished each table ‘happy Christmas’ before moving onto the next, sitting down at three in total.

She was then invited to the front of the hall, where the large Christmas pudding – measuring 36cm in diametre and weighing 10kg – was laid out on a plate.

Catherine Johnstone, in a short speech, told the Queen: ‘You are amazing. We didn’t know whether you were going to be able to come today, we would totally have understood if you couldn’t, but the fact that you have has made it very special for everybody so thank you.

‘You are an amazing patron and I don’t want to steal your line but every time we meet you say volunteers are the backbone of our community.

‘If every volunteer went on strike just for one day, the country would literally grind to a halt. It’s never more needed now for people to be stepping forward in their communities.’

Turning to the Christmas pudding and wielding a large fire lighter, she told the Queen: ‘I am going to do the lighting, you’re going to do the pouring. You pour as much as you would like, and I’ll do the honours.’

Given instructions to pour the brandy over the pudding, the Queen said ‘right… right…’ in concentration as she kept pouring, as the room echoed with laughter.

‘I think it would be very sensible if ma’am could just stand back a bit,’ Ms Johnstone said, before sending it up in flames.

The Queen delivered a short speech of her own without notes, saying: ‘Thank you all for all you do for the community. As I always say, this country would collapse without you. I am eternally grateful for everything you do.’

The Queen has been President of the RVS since 2012 and became Patron in May of this year.

It comes after Buckingham Palace released King Charles’ third Christmas card as monarch, featuring a sweet photograph of the royal with his wife Queen Camilla.

The image was taken by Millie Pilkington in the gardens of Buckingham Palace, captured in April when the foliage behind the royal couple was blooming with pink and purple flowers.

In the photograph, Camilla, 77, is seen wearing a blue wool crepe dress by Fiona Clare, with her arm around her husband.

Charles, 76, is in a light grey suit and patterned blue tie, smiling with his hand in his pocket.

The card is a stark departure from the formal image their Majesties chose last year – an official Coronation photo taken by Hugo Burnand in the Throne Room of Buckingham Palace.

That year, the photo showed the King wearing the Imperial State while Camilla wore Queen Mary’s Crown. Both were dressed in the Robes of Estate.

An inscription inside last year’s missive read: ‘Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and New Year.’

Speaking about his experience as the coronation photographer, Hugo Burnand – who also snapped Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding – described the atmosphere in the throne room as ‘cosy’ during the photoshoot.

He added that there was a ‘lovely buzz’ while he set up and took the coronation images.